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Santo & Johnny

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Santo & Johnny was an American instrumental duo of Italian descent from Brooklyn, New York. The brothers Santo Farina, born in 1937, and Johnny Farina, born in 1941, grew up in a family where their father wanted the boys to learn the steel guitar. Santo began on that instrument at a young age and was already writing his own pieces at fourteen. Johnny later accompanied him on an ordinary electric guitar. When Johnny was sixteen, they left school to start a music career.

Music and breakthrough

Their first single, Sleep Walk, came out in 1959, recorded in Manhattan and released on Canadian-American Records. In September of that year the single spent two weeks at the top of the Billboard chart. It was one of the few instrumentals of the rock era to manage that. The follow-up Tear Drop was also successful. Later they made another version of In the Still of the Night, which in 1964 became their last American hit. In Europe and Mexico they remained popular. In Italy they even got a television show of their own.

Influence

The music revolves around the soft, singing sound of the steel guitar, accompanied by Johnny's electric guitar. The melodies are calm and almost dreamy. Sleep Walk is still played a great deal and used in commercials, television programmes and films. The duo split up in 1976 and was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2002. Santo stopped making music, Johnny kept performing.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Sleep Walk and notice how the steel guitar lets the melody glide from note to note, while the second guitar quietly lays chords beneath it.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists